September 15, 2022 - From September 19 to October 12, Osijek's Pampas will be the centre of the World Championship Shotgun Shooting. 630 competitors from 77 countries will arrive in Osijek, including Olympians and the world's best shooters.

This was announced on Wednesday in Osijek's main square, where a press conference was held. The conference was attended by the mayor of Osijek Ivan Radić, the director of the competition organisation Zoran Ćelić, the president of the City Shooting Association - Osijek 1784 Zvonimir Kovačević, the president of the Croatian Shooting Association Hubert Kišpal, and the general secretary of the Osijek-Baranja County Sports Association Dubravko Ižaković.
Mayor Radić reminded that Osijek has a long history of shooting, dating back to 1774, when the first sports association in Croatia was founded.

Photo: Grad Osijek

"The first shooting range was put up at the beginning of the 19^th century in the Gradski Vrt hall, while Pampas was built in 1985. Two Olympians come from Osijek, 160 registered competitors and seven clubs, and this is a great opportunity to support this type of sport", said Radić. He pointed out that this summer in terms of tourism was a "complete success" for the city of Osijek.

"We achieved 12 percent more overnight stays than in the same month of the pre-pandemic year 2019, but also in the first eight months of this year. In terms of arrivals, we are better by as much as 55 percent compared to last year 2021. These figures certainly send a beautiful postcard of our city to the world and we have no doubt that this Championship will show that we are always good hosts", said the mayor of Osijek.

Director Ćelić believes that Croatia is one of the favourites this year, considering the medals won so far. He said that this competition is extremely important for achieving quotas for going to the Olympic Games in Paris, with 16 spots left in total.

Kovačević reported that competitors from 77 countries will perform in Osijek, including Olympians, while Kišpal added that there will be around 700 competitors, including 12 shooters from Croatia.

Ižaković pointed out that this is only one of the competitions that take place in the city and the county, and that the county and the city are happy to support the organisation of large sports events, and the shooters raise the level of tourism purely by being there.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated Lifestyle section.

September 15, 2022 - The 2022 Croatia national team kits have been presented ahead of Croatia's upcoming Nations League matches later this month. 

The Croatian Football Federation and technical partner Nike presented the new Croatia national team kits with the legendary checkers, which the 2018 World Cup finalists will wear for the first time in the upcoming Nations League matches in September, announced HNS. 

The redesigned red and white home jersey and the away jersey inspired by nature will be worn by captain Luka Modrić and his teammates at the World Cup in Qatar, where the team will try to repeat the magic from 2018.

The first kit is inspired by the 'vatreno srco' theme (burning heart), perfectly fitting the passionate, hardworking, and fiery character of the Croatian people and the national team. It is a redesigned and modernized version of the checkers that has become a globally recognized symbol of Croatian pride. Unevenly arranged, the well-known design is revamped, with the HNS coat of arms proudly shining in the center of the jersey, next to the blue Nike logo.

The away jersey further refines the iconic checkers through Croatia's natural beauty and national pride; in this case, they are blurred and wavy lines combining dark blue and turquoise colors designed to resemble the tides of the Adriatic Sea, whose waves wash over the Croatian coast. The stylistic patterns of surnames and numbers on the jerseys are also in the spirit of Croatian history and tradition, given that they are inspired by the historical Croatian Glagolitic script.

"I am extremely proud that I had the privilege of wearing the beautiful Croatian jersey the most times, and I am looking forward to the new kit that follows the recognizable tradition. Those magical red and white checkers make the Croatian jersey the most recognizable in the world, and the new design reminds me a little of 1998 and the legendary team who inspired my generation. I really like the attractive design and colors on the away jersey, and I'm sure it will be very popular among our fans," said Croatia captain Luka Modrić.

Nike's innovative Dri-FIT ADV technology was used to make the new jerseys. They are made of one hundred percent recycled polyester from recycled plastic bottles, and their breathable material prevents excessive sweating and body heating.

Registered Nike customers can now buy the new collection on Nike.com, and it is also available for pre-order through the HNS webshop. In addition, the new Vatreni kit will be available in other authorized Nike stores from September 21.

To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

September the 15th, 2022 - Dubrovnik-Neretva County school pupils are set to run a Lokrum race on the nearby island for a more than praiseworthy cause.

As Morski writes, on Thursday, September the 22nd, 2022, a promotional race for high school students from the wider area of Dubrovnik-Neretva County will be held on the island of Lokrum which lies a mere 600 metres from the City of Dubrovnik's shoreline.

This Lokrum race is part of a public campaign with the purpose of raising overall public awareness of the unacceptability of violence, and it is being carried out as part of the wider Josip's Home (Josipov dom) project, which seeks to ensure a strong system of support for female victims of violence and domestic violence.

Dubrovnik-Neretva County is otherwise is the holder of the aforementioned project, which is being co-financed by the European Social Fund as part of the Effective Human Resources Operational Programme.

The partner on the project is Caritas of the Diocese of Dubrovnik, and it was secured more than 11 million kuna in grants in order to establish a proper support system for female victims of violence and domestic violence within the home and family. The implementation of this project includes the aforementioned campaign, the reconstruction and equipping of a facility that will serve as a shelter for victims of violence, and the education of experts working with those victims.

The date set for this Lokrum race is no coincidence either, as September the 22nd is the National Day of Fighting Violence against Women.

The Lokrum race will be held on the island on the aforementioned date and will begin at 11:30.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

September the 15th, 2022 - The Blue World Vis (Plavi svijet Vis) organisation has received a large sum of money for the carrying out of their educational checkpoint project on this gorgeous Dalmatian island.

As Morski writes, Blue World Vis has received financial support in the encouraging amount of almost one million kuna for the implementation of their project "View of the Sea - the educational checkpoints of the island of Vis/Pogled na more - edukativni punktovi otoka Visa''

The purpose of the project is the education and sensitisation of the wider general public on the topics of environmental protection and biodiversity through the creation of three educational checkpoints on the island of Vis. The entire operation is being co-financed by the European Union (EU) from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.

Raising the public's level of awareness of the dangers of climate change and failing to correctly take care of our environment has become more and more prominent in our society as a whole, and within the European Union, there have been many efforts focused on going green and digital, eliminating our habit of needlessly harming the environment and causing damage to our planet for future generations.

Across Croatia, there have been multiple projects carried out dediated solely to the selfless cause of raising environmental awareness, from regular organised beach and seabed clean ups to the financing of proper waste separation and recycling yards. The Blue World Vis project is just one in a string of such projects set to educate the public about this burning global topic.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

September the 15th, 2022 - The Biokovo hiking trails, as well as rest points such as benches, are undergoing a revamp as part of a wider project which will also involve visitor content.

As Morski writes, in Biokovo's gorgeous Kotisina botanical garden, work on the redoing and rearrangement of existing Biokovo hiking trails and benches as part of the wider "Endemic Pathway-ePATH" project has begun.

The mighty Biokovo mountain range is visited very frequently by tourists from all over the world, and the recently installed Biokovo Sky Walk has only boosted their numbers.

These planned works on the Biokovo hiking trails and more are to ensure the safety and renovation of the existing trails and accompanying visitor content such as benches, rest stops, places scheduled for educational activities and so on. As part of the project, the renovation of the drywall, which is a recognisable symbol of Dalmatia, has also been planned. The walls have lost their load-bearing capacity, and their upcoming renovation will ensure this part of local and wider Medterranean heritage is properly preserved for years to come..

The ePATH Biokovo project also envisages the installation of two wooden bridges across the Proslap stream.

The dynamics of the works are also being adapted to the main summer tourist season and the smooth movement of tourists who are visiting the Kotisina botanical garden at this time of year. The scheduled duration of the works stands at ninety days.

The ePATH project was otherwise approved within the Interreg IPA programme of cross-border cooperation between Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro for the period between 2014 and 2020. It is being implemented with the aim of strengthening and diversifying the overall tourist offer through cross-border cooperation and the improvement of management and sustainable use of cultural and natural heritage in the area.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

September the 15th, 2022 - The Croatian national carrier is set to attempt to fight the competition with some new Croatia Airlines winter routes for the 2022/2023 schedule.

As Morski writes, the national carrier recently announced that it would introduce several new Croatia Airlines winter routes this season. These are international which will run from October the 30th, 2022 to March the 25th, 2023 and offer a total of 28 percent more flights and seats compared to last year's winter flight schedule. Croatia Airlines will as such be directly connected with thirteen international destinations owing to nineteen international routes in the upcoming winter period.

The company plans to carry out more than 8,500 regular flights and offer about 869,000 seats on them, which is 28 percent more flights and seats compared to the 2021/2022 winter flight schedule. These Croatia Airlines winter route flights are direct ones between Split-Zurich and Pula-Zurich, which will run twice a week from the end of October to mid-January 2023, and flights on the regular route between Rijeka-Munich will run three times a week owing to increased demand for them.

By the end of January 2023, flying on the regular Zagreb-Dublin route will be carried out twice a week, and the Osijek-Munich route which also flies twice a week, will continue.

During the winter period, Croatia Airlines aircraft will directly connect Zagreb International Airport with a total of thirteen European destinations - Amsterdam, Vienna, Brussels, Dublin, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, London Heathrow, Munich, Paris, Rome (Via Split), Sarajevo, Skopje and Zurich, While from the Split Airport, there are currently planned flights to four international destinations: Munich, Frankfurt, Rome and Zurich.

When it comes to domestic flights, Croatia Airlines has announced their plan for the continuation of the air connection of the following Croatian cities this winter: Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar and Pula.

The network of international and domestic flights during the upcoming winter season has been adapted to current demand, which is continuously monitored from within the company, and the planned flying order is subject to changes depending on the development of both epidemiological and security situations in Croatia and across the world.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

September 14, 2022 - AC Milan beat Dinamo in the second round of the Champions League Group E. The Italian champion defeated the Croatian champion 3:1 at San Siro Stadium. 

The Italian champion led 2:0 with goals from Olivier Giroud in the 45th minute and Alexis Saelemaekers in the 47th minute. After a great action with Petković, Mislav Oršić reduced the score to 1:2 in the 56th minute, but Tommaso Pobega brought Milan back in the 77th for 3:1. 

At the beginning of the game, Milan quickly tried to gain an early advantage, closing the Croatian champion into their penalty area. However, apart from Olivier Giroud's shot in the ninth minute, there were no dangerous shots for Livaković.

The game was pretty equal, though Milan had better chances. In the 28th minute, Moharrami tried to score, and Mislav Oršić came even closer to the goal in the 36th minute. 

Milan could have taken the lead in the 21st minute, but Moharrami reacted well before Rafael Leao and prevented a goal. Milan also tried a long-range shot without success. 

Milan took the lead before halftime, and in the last moments of the first half, the referee called a foul on Josip Šutalo for a Milan penalty. Giroud scored for 1:0 Milan.

At the start of the second half, Rafael Leao broke through the left side with ease, crossed, and found Alexis Saelemaekers, who headed under the crossbar for 2:0.

Dinamo came back into the game in the 56th minute after a great action by Oršić and Petković. Petković deceived Milan's defense, and Oršić scored for 2:1. 

Milan scored again in the 77th minute when Pobega fiercely scored from ten meters for 3:1.

With this victory, Milan takes first place in the group with four points. Dinamo has three points, while RB Salzburg is third with one point and a game in hand, and Chelsea is last with zero. 

Dinamo will visit RB Salzburg next on October 5 when Milan visits Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. 

To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

September 14, 2022 – Croatia is full of interesting people. You can find them anywhere, from your local pub to remote islands. Somewhere between the two, we reached Branko Presečan. Originally from Virovitica in Slavonia, where he still lives in the winter, Branko likes to move to the sunny island of Hvar in the summer, where he runs an unusual little business, and quite successfully so. Branko grows chili peppers and produces hot sauce, chili marmalade, chili olive oil, and more. Spice things up and meet HvarBanesco.

It all started when his young son developed allergies in 1997. That event took Branko to Hvar, where he decided to buy a house so that the boy could spend more time under the sun, in the fresh Adriatic air which tends to help. Things progressed little by little, Branko and his wife ran a few different businesses, such as a brewery, restaurants, and real estate. In 2015, as Branko says, he finally found his passion.

A lover of spicy flavours, he kept looking for sauces and products that would be spicy and tasty at the same time, and failing to find them. Naturally, he decided to buy some chili pepper seeds and try his hand at it. He started by planting a few plants and experimenting in the summer kitchen. Recipe by recipe, through trial and error, Branko managed to produce sauces, marmalades, and oils which range from spicy, to very spicy, to extremely hot, but all are fragrant and flavourful. He added that his favourite piece of feedback came from an American customer. Brian discovered Branko’s products by accident but stayed an unplanned three days in Hvar just for HvarBanesco, which he found to be the only hot sauce that packed actual flavour, not just acidity and spiciness.

In 2016 Branko started planting more of the little hot peppers, and in 2018 he opened HvarBanesco. He only plants five varieties of peppers – Jalapeno, Habanero, Bhut Jolokia, Jamaican Red, and of course, the world’s hottest Carolina Reaper. He sells his products to local restaurants and shops, and he runs a webshop, where you can buy some delicious spicy stuff from anywhere in the world. The only slightly problematic country, he says, is the United States, where the postage and customs reach dreadful highs.

As for the organisation of work, Branko never tires and does it all on his own, from planting hundreds of plants, to picking them, to cooking. His family usually stays in Virovitica, though they do keep him company from time to time. Regarding future plans, Branko says he is quite happy with where he is at and doesn’t want to go commercial. He will keep experimenting in the kitchen though, perfecting the flavours, so stay tuned! If you’re feeling brave, try experimenting yourself, and get one of Branko’s Carolina Reaper products.

Chili pepper eating competition in Jelsa, Hvar.

All photos are courtesy of Branko Presečan and the HvarBanesco webshop.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated Lifestyle section.